In this issue

Measuring Up: A Health Surveillance Update on Canadian Children and Youth

Erratum

Staff changes at CHIRPP

We have moved ...

New on our website

Alberta Centre for Injury Control & Research - Creating a caring and safe Alberta

Recent Canadian injury data available on CHIRPP's website

Article in Injury Prevention about CHIRPP

Canadian Collaborating Centres for Injury Prevention and Control: New injury prevention group

Training in Calgary and Yellowknife

Injuries Associated with Candles

Welcome to CHIRPP News

Issue 17

December 1999

Measuring Up: A Health Surveillance Update on Canadian Children and Youth

I.D. Rusen, MD, MSc, FRCPC
Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health

It is estimated that in July 1999, over 8 million Canadians or 26.1% of the population were children and youth aged 19 years and younger. The health status of this population is of great interest to policy makers, health professionals and the general public. Measuring Up: A Health Surveillance Update on Canadian Children and Youth was recently released by Health Canada's Laboratory Centre for Disease Control to address this important age group.

Child injury is featured in this surveillance update along with the following categories: infant health, childhood cancer, vaccine-preventable diseases, respiratory health, and HIV and sexual health. Each section presents an overview of the topic followed by the key surv veillance indicators that demonstrate its impact on the overall health of Canadian children and youth. The child injury section uses data from CHIRPP and other sources to profile injury mortality, motor vehicle crashes, suicide, and injuries from infant walkers. Careful interpretation of the most recent available data as well as a discussion of the data limitations accompany each indicator. In addition to trends over time, where possible, international comparisons are highlighted.

Measuring Up demonstrates improvement in the health of Canadian children and youth in several areas. In particular, Canada has demonstrated the most dramatic decline in infant mortality rates in the past 35 years of all industrialized countries with the exception of Japan. Childhood cancer rates have also declined from seven cancer deaths per 100,000 children in 1971 to three per 100,000 in 1996. In 1998, there was a total of 12 confirmed measles cases in Canada, the lowest annual number of cases ever reported in Canada.

However, the report also reveals some areas of concern. Although the rate has decreased over the last 15 years, motor vehicle crashes are still the leading cause of injury death in children older than one year of age. Suicide follows motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of injury death in both males and females aged 10-19 years. Unlike the declining rates of death due to unintentional injury, suicide rates among 10-19 year olds have remained steady or increased slightly over the last 15 years. As well, the prevalence of asthma, as reported in population surveys, has increased from just over 2% in 1978 to 12.2% in 1996-7. This increase in prevalence has been accompanied by an  increase in the hospitalization rates for asthma.

Surveillance is an evolving process and includes the identification of gaps in the available data and the development of systems to address these information needs. This evolving nature is evident in the report's future developments section, which highlights innovative progress in child health surveillance in several areas, including child maltreatment. Despite the burden of suffering attributed to child maltreatment in Canada, there are no existing national data on the incidence of abuse. The Child Maltreatment Division in the Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health, in collaboration with participating provincial and territorial child welfare agencies across Canada, is conducting the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect. The study will provide reliable estimates of the scope and characteristics of reported child abuse and neglect in Canada.

This accessible and comprehensive collection of national child health data will be updated on a regular basis, thereby providing the evidence base for child health policy and program development and evaluation. The contribution of injury data to this report is important and the data indicate greater injury prevention efforts are still required. The Child Injury Division will continue to explore ways to illustrate the impact of injury-related morbidity and mortality on the health of Canadian children and youth.

For further information or to obtain a copy of Measuring Up (available in French as À la Hauteur) contact the Bureau of Reproductive and Child Health, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada at (613) 954-0395 or visit our website at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpb/lcdc.

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